


Study Partners

by Realta (Daniele)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 19:22:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5510066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daniele/pseuds/Realta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaara was Naruto's favorite study partner.</p><p>In fact, Naruto only ever studied when Gaara was tutoring him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Study Partners

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set in the same universe as "Strawberry Cake".

Gaara sat on the grass, with his back to the tree he had come to enjoy lately, reading a collection of cases of domestic violence for the test he would have tomorrow afternoon. The sun barely hit him through the leaves, and a small breeze pleasantly brushed the fresh air against his skin.  
  
He felt Naruto approaching him seconds before he heard him, calm as he was while reading. “You really like trees, don't you?”  
  
“Hm...” he hummed, ignoring his question completely. Naruto knew he enjoyed gardening, even if very few potted plants could be fit into their tiny apartment.  
  
“Is that for your test tomorrow?” Naruto wondered. He hummed again. Naruto sighed and laid on the grass, with his head on Gaara's thigh. He changed his position so his bond-mate could get more comfortable and transferred the tablet to his left hand, so his right could rest on Naruto's hair. “Do you still have classes today?”  
  
He didn't answer. Naruto knew he had classes, he was only asking because he was Naruto, and he loathed to leave the silence resting. It was okay, Gaara had gotten used to him throughout the years, and he could concentrate on the words of the case even while listening to his bond-mate's monologue.  
  
Sometimes, it was even easier to concentrate on what he was reading when he listened to the gentle hum of Naruto's deeper voice on the background, just like now.  
  
He only paid attention to what his bond-mate was saying when he pinched his leg. “Hey, answer me.” Naruto whined. Before he even asked, his bond-mate repeated. “I asked if you wanted to go visit Granny and Pervy sage this weekend. Pervy sage said he wanted to make a barbecue.”  
  
Gaara blinked, then frowned, contemplative. He had exams next week, and he wasn't sure he wouldn't need the extra time to study. But if he told Naruto to go alone, he would just sulk for a month afterwards. “Fine.” he said finally. His mate grinned up at him.  
  
“Awesome! I'll tell him we will go! Nagato, Yahiko and their families will go too, Pervy sage is happy with the success of his new book.” he made a face as he finished.  
  
It never ceased to amuse him that Naruto loathed the romantic tales his grandfather wrote, when they reflected so closely their relationship. The only thing their relationship lacked was the undying love – though he had to admit he was quite fond of his bond-mate.  
  
He paused as the thoughts echoed in his mind. Did he love Naruto? The question made him pause, but he wasn't quite sure he could pull apart the tangle of feelings he felt for him and give it a label at all. He could easily say Naruto was his best friend... but he was unsure of anything else.  
  
“You okay?” he looked down at his mate, who was watching him with worry. “You're not reading anymore, is that case upsetting you?” he let go of his tablet when Naruto reached to take it.  
  
“Not really.” he hummed. Reading cases had stopped upsetting him when he was still a child, he had learned to detach from the people being judged, no matter how gruesome or grisly the crime they had committed.  
  
Naruto's eyes ran through the tablet's screen for a few seconds, then he pursed his lips and wrinkled his nose. “How can you read this. I can barely understand all those words.” Gaara scoffed. Naruto always told him that when he grabbed one of his books.  
  
“Practice.” he said simply. Attorneys did like to use Latin words more often than the general population, but he was well used to the terms by now.  
  
“What's this case all about? This dude just goes on and on and says nothing about anything.” he muttered, handing him back the tablet. Gaara just chuckled – transcripts of trials did tend to be very long winded, specially during the conclusion, which was the part he was reading now.  
  
“It's a domestic violence case. A man instilled his wife to kill herself through psychological abuse so he could get her life insurance money, in order to pay off several debts he had acquired with shady people. But his neighbor caught his abuse on audio and video.” Naruto looked horrified as he explained.  
  
“... Damn. This man is nasty, to do that to his wife.” he made a face. “You're forced to read some awful stuff.” he rolled his eyes at his mate.  
  
“Do you think a detective investigates stolen cookies, Naruto?” he scoffed, once again reading the conclusion of the prosecutor on the case. His mate wanted to be a detective, but sometimes he seemed too naive to understand what that job would entail. Gaara had learned what he would be getting into by becoming a lawyer when he was still a child.  
  
“Well... At least he got caught.” Naruto muttered. “And I'm going to catch bad guys like him when I'm a detective.” Gaara only hummed again.  
  
After a few seconds, he said. “You should start reading up case files, too. Running and doing stretches isn't going to help you catch 'bad guys', and neither are those trashy police novels you read. They get their facts all wrong most of the time.” he remarked.  
  
“I do read case files.” Naruto complained, but he knew it was a lie. Naruto had the books, but whenever he was with one of those cases inside one of the single-use tablets, his mate was sleeping or doodling on a sheet of paper instead of studying. If he got a full purpose tablet, he was surfing the internet instead. Gaara wasn't sure he had any future on the career he really wanted – though Naruto had given him more than once a glimpse of how smart and resourceful he could be when he put himself fully into doing something. Naruto just needed a shove to get himself started.  
  
“Sure you do.” he shook his head. Naruto scoffed.  
  
“Read it aloud to me, then.” he challenged. Gaara raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Reading a trial transcript won't help you at all, Naruto.” he reminded him. Naruto fiddled with his pockets and took out one of the single use tablets – It was folded in such a way Gaara was still surprised the thing even worked. If it was paper, it would be wrinkled beyond being legible.  
  
“Read this! I'm sure it's useful to you, you need to read investigations in order to build your cases, right?” Naruto remarked. He sighed and turned his tablet on standby, then took the abused piece of technology off Naruto's hands. It was an embezzling investigation as well – likely something he had to hand in an analysis in class, Naruto usually only read without prompt cases that involved petty theft and vandalizing teenagers.  
  
He read the text aloud, studying it as well as Naruto. At least his mate seemed to enjoy his voice – every time they studied together and he explained something to Naruto, his mate gave him his full attention. It was a good thing that most of the things Naruto had to learn were at least useful for him to know – otherwise his mate would be really in trouble.  
  
A small smile curved his lips as he continued to read. Naruto interrupted him. “The guy stole shit, why are you smiling?”  
  
“Just remembered something funny.” he remarked, then continued to read. Naruto didn't insist, instead he watched him with his full attention as he listened to his words, and made random comments about the text.


End file.
